Fr. Benjamin Sember, a Catholic priest, has written a superb piece on the dangers of making the government one’s God:

When a society has made the decision to live without God, that society inevitably begins to rely on the Government to do everything that God used to do: to declare what is right and what is wrong, to protect the innocent and punish the guilty, divide the wheat from the chaff and throw the evildoers into maximum security prison, to protect and care for orphans and the widows, to give healing to the sick, and to guarantee stability, security, prosperity, and peace. Prayers that used to be offered to God for these things are now offered up in the form of ballots and votes.